Sunday, May 31, 2009

I have 2 rather big areas of large German Bearded Iris in 2 flower beds in my back yard. I love these flowers for many reasons........the graceful curve of the top petals and the almost translucent paper thin drooping bottom petals that ruffle in the wind........the fresh almost lemon-like smell of the blossoms.........the pointy flower spears of their buds, wrapped tightly ready to unfold into a beautiful flower...... and yes, I love them because they also take me back to my childhood. Let me explain.....

Growing up, my parents had a stone wall about 2 feet tall along the side of the front yard and on top of this stone wall were these Iris! The wall was pretty long, about 15 feet and come late May/early June it would explode in yellow, deep purple and pale lavendar large German Bearded Iris. I'd walk past them every morning, cross the road and wait by the mailbox for the school bus. When I was in elementary school I really didn't like school all that much because I was painfully shy, but I knew that when I saw those Iris blooming that the end of school was near! Those Irish became my visual signal that I'd be set free from school for the summer.

Little did I know back then that I'd end up having a career in a public school system and that I'd become far from shy, however one thing remained a constant......those blooming Iris are still my little visual signal that there is a light at the end of tunnel and I'll be free once again!

When I look at them, I just have to smile and my heart soars! These are irises from my mom's original bunch. I can't even count how many people have irises from the original ones from that stone wall but we'd dig and split them every so often and give them away. I still do so to this day....every 2 to 3 years I dig and split them and give them away. Why shouldn't others enjoy their beauty?

Now the interesting thing about these spectacular flowers is that I started out with equal amounts of rhizomes in yellow and purple and over the years all but 2 have become yellow!

They look like "the sentinals to summer" to me! Guarding the summer gate, preparing to open it to let me go through! Do you have a certain flower that triggers a certain memory for you?

Friday, May 22, 2009

This is the official kick off/ gateway to Summer 09! Let's take time to remember all those that have served our country and protected our freedoms. This is an ATC that I did last year as part of my "ATC a day for a year" project. My grandfather served as a Marine in WWI and my brother Jeff served during the Vietnam War and was station in Korea on the DMZ.

To celebrate the kick-off of summer I've created a "beachy" inspired necklace for a GIVE-AWAY!!! Yeah! This necklace is just full of stuff!!! It's made with 12 strands of hemp cord, white, cream, light aqua glass beads, wooden beads, seashells, bone beads and blue/brown ceramic beads.

How great would this baby look around your neck as you stroll down the beach or go to a summer party? It would go great with a white, aqua or tan top too!

How can you win it? Two ways:

1. If you are already a follower, just leave a comment tell me you're a follower of the Honey Girl Studio blog and I'll enter you.

2. Become a follower, leave me a comment and put a link to my blog on your blog about the necklace and ta-da! You're entered to win the necklace!

Tuesday, May 12, 2009

As I said a few posts ago, I wanted to try to make cake pops, so tonight I made a cake and did it. Let me tell you they are so easy and so delicious! Mine aren't all that pretty because I didn't have any colored sprinkles but the next time I make them I will.Here's how to make them:Step 1: Bake a chocolate cake. Let it cool then in a big bowl crumble it up!Step 2: Mix into the crumbled cake, 1/2 can of chocolate frosting. Mix it will with your hands....kind of messy!Step 3: Roll into small balls, place on cookie sheet.Step 4: Melt white candy waffers in microwave, dip the end of lollipop stick into it then stick it into the ball and place into the freezer for 15 minutes.

Step 5: Take them out of the freezer, and dip them into the melted waffers. Let them dry and they're ready to chow!

I'm going to put mine into little bags with a twisty.

Now for some real eye candy.......Check out Bakerella for the wonderful cake pops she makes for all holidays and parties! They are a lot prettier than mine!

Monday, May 11, 2009

I posted a link to instructions on how to make this necklace in the previous post. I thought I'd give it a try tonight. It's a "beachy" inspired necklace made with bone beads, shells, frosted glass beads, clear glass beads, white glass beads and hemp.

Sunday, May 10, 2009

Well, everyone thinks they have the best mom in the world but I have to tell you, mine's pretty great too. I met her and my dad for church this morning.

Now as much as I like paper arts, I really don't like making cards and my mom always says "where's my handmade card?", as I usually buy a card. So, this Mother's Day, I made a card for her! Some people have quite the knack for making cards, but as you can see....I don't!

Lastly, here a few cool things I've stumbled upon while surfing. and have placed them on the "I want to try this" list............

These are called "Cake Pops"....little balls of cake covered with chocolate. I'm going to try them this week sometime. You can get the instructions and recipe at Apartment Therapy.

This would be a great beach/summertime necklace and it looks like it's pretty easy to make. You can get the step by step instructions here.

Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Tonight I just finished these birdie inchies for a swap over at Amusing Muses. Trying to get all you want into just a square inch of paper is challenging! The theme was birds. I consider the inches a success, whereas the next few pictures are not so successful!....... Tonight I also wanted an Angel Food Cake, however I didn't have an Angel Food cake pan so following the directions on the box, I used a loaf pan and cupcake wrappers.

So far so good....this is about 20 minutes into the baking process...... they are rising.....and rising ......oh my gosh!.....and rising......shoot! The one in the loaf pan is going to run into the top rack!!!!As I pulled the rack out I ripped the top off of the loaf! I wasn't completely baked so I put it back in the oven and it burned. The cupcakes got burned too! So no Angel Food cake for me! Note to self......."need to buy an Angel Food cake pan"!

Sunday, May 3, 2009

Oh the smell of spring! What could be better than the scent of apple blossoms? I took these pictures at my mom and dad's farm. This is an old apple tree which produces translucent apples. They are small and kind of sour but great for making apple sauce. Every other year it produces apples and usually a bumper crop.

Tinged with just a faint swipe of pink they are beautiful and smell heavenly!Honestly I really don't know what is keeping this tree alive or holding it up when it is loaded with all those apples! Must be the very hand of God and/or Mother Nature because the whole inside is rotton!There's buddy the wonder dog!

There's mom! She turned 77 years old last weekend and is a wonderful baker.....especially her pies. She makes quite a few apple pies from these apples.

Here is a tutorial on how to make paper look like leather. It's pretty easy and I got it out of the book I bought the other day called "Transforming Paper".

Cut a tag from brown cardstock

Spray the front and back of the cardstock tag with perfect Ink Refresher by Ranger. I makes the paper solt and supple.

Next take your frustrations out on the tag and crinkle it up! Ah, now didn't that feel good?Uncrinkle it and smooth it out flat.

Iron it flat with a hot iron (this will also dry it in about 15 seconds).

Lightly swipe the Vintage Photo Ranger Distressing Ink pad over it. This will enhance the grooves and creases.

The finished tag! Ta-da! Looks like leather, eh?Close up.......

Hope you enjoyed the tute and the apple blossom pictures! Have a great Sunday!

Friday, May 1, 2009

I can't believe it's been a week since I last blogged! This was a busy week and I didn't get much studio time at night so I made sure I got into it tonight to finish this altered art doll. Her name is simply "FLY". I started her on Monday and finally got her finished tonight. Sometimes the creative muse flies around, ever elusive and that was the case for me this week. I'm happy with the finished piece, she reminds me of some kind of strange super hero. I especially like her red Doc Martin boots. I got the idea to use the boots from my very talented friend Marsha from Tumble Fish Studio.Please stop by her blog and check out Marsha's amazing creations!

If you would like "Fly" for your very own you can find her on Ebay right now! Here are a few close ups of her. Her arms and legs are moveable.

Back to the boots........aren't these cool!??!?! I plan on using them on a Halloween doll I started tonight.

Hmmmm....I really dig these blue boots, actually I have a pair similar to them.Which brings me to the free collage sheet.......... I put this together last night in a Word document and I'd like to email it to you to use in your collages. Just think of the cool characters you can construct wearing these colorful boots! Shoot me an email and I'll send you 2 sheets in an attachement. A sneak peak of what I'm creating with the winged boots........On the way home I stopped at Borders and bought this book that I've been eyeballing for about 6 months now. What was different tonight that I bought it? I had a 25% off coupon! This is a really good book. It has a plethera of paint, dye and stamping technqiues to use on paper. I can't wait to try out some of the techniques, especially the one that makes paper look like sea glass! I might have to do some tutorials on the some of the techniques in future blogs.